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Our old friend John Amaechi, the only openly gay player in the NBA, is in Beijing covering the Olympics. Apparently, Team USA players and Coaches are not thrilled to see him. Imagine that (after his boook bashed many NBA players generally and specifically):
There's a former NBA player who had a 6.2 career scoring average
broadcasting from the Olympics.Ordinarily, that wouldn't mean much. But that
player's name is John Amaechi, who released the book "Man in the Middle,'' last
year, becoming the first player who was at one time was associated with the NBA
to come out as being gay.Amaechi is at the Olympics, serving as a basketball
analyst for his homeland Great Britain's BBC. His appearance has caught some in
the NBA establishment by surprise."It's been tense to say the least,'' Amaechi
said when I ran into him in a lunch line about what it's been like being seeing
some Team USA players and coaches.Amaechi said players have turned away from
him, and there remains a "lot of tension.'' He mentioned seeing Lakers star Kobe
Bryant."I ran into Kobe, and he was surprised to see me,'' Amaechi said. "It
didn't go well.''Ameachi, who played for Cleveland, Orlando and Utah in 1995-96
and from 1999-2003, has been writing about his experiences at the Olympics in
his blog www.beijinglegacyblog.com."I had passed some of the coaches in the MPC
(Main Press Center) the day before, catching only the trailing end a statement
of the coach who saw me, "... isn't that Amaechi? What the hell is he doing
(here),''' Amaechi writes in his blog. "I was a little irritated. I couldn't
help but wonder if that was the way they would have reacted to another former
NBA player they recognized passing shoulder to shoulder a world away. Even an
average one.''
Score one for Jerry Sloan I guess. (Amaechi bashed Sloan as a gay-hater in his book)
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